Adolphe Quetelet
Belgian astronomer, mathematician, statistician and sociologist (1796-1874)
Person · Open Library
- Born
- 1796
- Died
- 1874
- Works
- 8
Top works
- Notice sur Martin van Marum
- Recherches statistiques sur le royaume des Pays-Bas
- Tables de mortalité et leur développement
- Observations des phénomènes périodiques
- Sur la statistique morale et les principes qui doivent en former la base
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Quotes
- “It has seemed to me that the theory (calcul) of probabilities ought to serve as the basis for the study of all the sciences, and particularly of the sciences of observation.”
- “Little by little his conversation, always instructive and animated, gave a special direction to my tastes, which would have led me by preference towards letters. I resolved to complete my scientific studies and followed the courses in advanced mathematics given by M. [Jean Guillaume] Gamier. It was at the same time agreed by us that, in order to relieve him in his work, I should give some of the other courses with which he was charged. I thus found myself his pupil and his colleague.”
Article
Lambert Adolphe Jacques Quetelet ( French: [kətlɛ] ; 22 February 1796 – 17 February 1874) was a Belgian astronomer, mathematician, statistician, and sociologist who founded and directed the Brussels Observatory and was influential in introducing statistical methods to the social sciences. His name is sometimes spelled with an accent as Quételet.
He also founded the science of anthropometry and developed the body mass index (BMI) scale, originally called the Quetelet Index. His work on measuring human characteristic to determine the ideal l'homme moyen ("the average man"), played a key role in the origins of eugenics.
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1796 births1874 deaths19th-century Belgian astronomers19th-century Belgian mathematicians19th-century statisticiansBelgian anthropologistsBelgian criminologistsBelgian sociologistsBelgian statisticiansBurials at Brussels CemeteryCorresponding members of the Saint Petersburg Academy of SciencesData and information visualization experts